New Shop Opens Downtown

Staff photo/Beth Lipton: Varsity Apparel Business Manager Shelia Goins stands in front of a display of St. Marys Roughriders gear. The store opened in downtown Friday.

ST. MARYS — An apparel store opened its doors in downtown St. Marys Friday morning to area residents, offering a variety of school and custom, embroidered apparel.

Victory Apparel, located at 124 W. Spring St., St. Marys, offers a slew of local school apparel, including St. Marys, New Bremen, New Knoxville, Minster, Wapakoneta and Spencerville, in addition to a variety of Ohio State University apparel. Business Manager Sheila Goins said the owners of the local shop decided to expand into St. Marys to fill a need.

“The owners have several other shops, including an apparel store in Celina, and they had some customers in the area and found that there was a need in the community for some lower prices,” Goins said.

Kelly Kaiser, Varsity Apparel’s first customer, said she was impressed with the prices.

“The prices are awesome,” she said.

Goins noted that in addition to the school apparel, Varsity Apparel can also have custom apparel made for businesses, organizations, groups and fundraisers.

“We’re not just for the schools,” she said, noting that in addition to T-shirts and sweatshirts, the shop also has button-down shirts. “We can do business attire.”

The business also offers blankets, scarves and bags.

“Pretty much anything you can embroider, we can do,” Goins said.

Customers can also add a personal touch to their items by adding a name to T-shirts and get their order back quickly.

“We generally have a two-day turnover for custom orders unless it’s a large order,” Goins said.

Bulk orders, she noted, receive a discounted price.

“We do give bulk-rate pricing, so if you order more than seven shirts, you get a bulk price,” Goins said.

Goins said that Varsity Apparel also has a selection of custom Christmas items.

“We have stockings that we can put their names on,” she said, noting the store can also have “Baby’s First Christmas” items made.

In the future, Goins said the goal is to make Varsity Apparel a go-to shop in the community to all groups.

“To have more than just the schools,” she said. “We want to make sure the whole area has the service.”

Varsity Apparel is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. For more information, call the store at 419-300-8611.